Ascii Hierarchy Diagram

Render a hierarchical ASCII tree diagram using the Python script at ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/render_ascii_hierarchy_diagram.py.

Instructions

1. Construct a JSON object describing the hierarchy tree. Each node has:

   • "name": the node label (required)
   • "comment": a trailing comment displayed after the node (optional)
   • "children": an array of child nodes (optional)

2. Write the JSON to a temporary file in the current project's working directory (e.g. hierarchy.json).

3. Run with one of two modes (use python3 on macOS/Linux, python on Windows):

   Include the root node in the output:

   python3 "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/render_ascii_hierarchy_diagram.py" --file hierarchy.json --include-root
   

   Skip the root node and render each top-level child as an independent tree:

   python3 "${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/render_ascii_hierarchy_diagram.py" --file hierarchy.json --no-include-root
   

4. Copy the output into the target markdown file inside a fenced code block.

5. Delete the temporary JSON file.

Modes

• --include-root: Render the root node and all descendants as a single unified tree. One global comment margin is computed across the entire tree. A blank separator line (carrying the │ continuation glyph at the relevant column) is inserted after every completed sub-tree at every depth — that is, after any node that has its own children and is not the last sibling. Leaf entries and final siblings get no gap.

• --no-include-root: Skip the root node. Render each top-level child as a separate independent tree. Each group computes its own comment margin. Groups are separated by a blank line, and within each group sub-trees are gapped at every depth by the same rule as --include-root.

Comment alignment

Comments are aligned to a margin computed as: length of the longest prefix + name string + 4. This margin is global in --include-root mode and per-group in --no-include-root mode.

Example JSON

{
    "name": "project",
    "children": [
        {
            "name": "src",
            "comment": "Source code",
            "children": [
                { "name": "main.cpp", "comment": "Entry point" },
                { "name": "utils.h", "comment": "Helpers" }
            ]
        },
        {
            "name": "docs",
            "comment": "Documentation",
            "children": [
                { "name": "README.md", "comment": "Project overview" }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

Output with --include-root

project
├─ src             Source code
│  ├─ main.cpp     Entry point
│  └─ utils.h      Helpers
│
└─ docs            Documentation
   └─ README.md    Project overview

Output with --no-include-root

src            Source code
├─ main.cpp    Entry point
└─ utils.h     Helpers

docs            Documentation
└─ README.md    Project overview

User argument

$ARGUMENTS